The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board is holding three public hearings on proposed changes to trout and bass fishing regulations.

The board proposes reducing the daily creel limit for brook trout by half. It’s also considering opening 11 new river sections to catch-and-release trout fishing with artificial flies or lures, outside of the normal season.

And catch-and-release open water bass fishing outside the normal season is being proposed on all lakes, ponds and reservoirs not listed as "seasonally closed waters."

The Brattleboro Retreat could lose its federal Medicare funding unless it can come up with a plan to correct a series of violations. Those violations were documented during an inspection last month.

Senior Vice President Peter Albert says most of the deficiencies were discovered in the hospital's new 14-bed unit, which accepts Vermont State Hospital patients. At least some of those patients were involuntarily committed.

The Northeast Kingdom town of Greensboro is home to a number of unique and successful ventures – from Circus Smirkus to the cheese cellars at Jasper Hill. And now it’s home to what a popular beer rating website has named the single best brewer in the world: Hill Farmstead Brewery. Despite being located far off the beaten path, crowds are flocking to Greensboro to get a taste of what Hill Farmstead has to offer.

Governor Peter Shumlin says that the new law decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana should allow law enforcement to deal with a more pressing drug problem in Vermont.

“I would argue, that if you want to talk about the biggest threat to our downtowns, to our quality of life, to a low crime rate, which we’ve always enjoyed in this state, to our family members being destroyed by an epidemic, it’s opiates," said Shumlin. "It’s heroin. It’s Oxycontin. It’s all of the issues that are driving crime in this state.”

Camping reservations at Vermont’s 52 State Parks poured in for the Memorial Day Weekend, despite rain in the forecast. Last year broke a twenty year record with more than 900-thousand visits to the parks all year.

State Parks Director Craig Whipple says the State Park website has added some new bells and whistles to entice even more campers this year.

A Vermont man who was shot in the thigh by a Winooski police officer after a confrontation has pleaded not guilty to related charges. A judge said on Friday that 35-year-old Isaac Sage, of Winooski, should undergo a mental health evaluation to determine his sanity at the time of the incident and whether he is mentally competent for court proceedings.

Vermont consumers need to be better informed about which foods are organic and which aren't. That was the upshot of a Senate Agriculture Hearing today that looked at the problem of confusing labeling on products sold in stores and at farmers' markets. Senator David Zuckerman is an organic farmer and he says confusion often arises when organic farms expand into non-organic products. The organic certifying group Vermont Organic Farmers says it is stepping up efforts to educate farmers about good labeling practices.

The family of a Vermont State Police trooper who was killed almost a decade ago has received a $4.5 million settlement from the state and its insurance carrier. Sergeant Michael Johnson was struck by a car driven by a fleeing suspect in 2003. The Valley News reports Washington Superior Court has approved a settlement to compensate Sgt. Johnson's widow and their three children. The suspect, Eric Daley of Lebanon, New Hampshire, is in prison for gross negligent operation of a vehicle.

A handful of Vermont dairy farmers are raising concerns at the State House about a bill that would grant driver identification cards to Vermont residents who are in this country illegally. A Winooski police officer shot a man after an altercation yesterday afternoon. Isaac Sage is a 35-year old Winooski resident who’s had run-ins with the police before. The family of a Vermont State Police trooper who was killed while trying to stop a fleeing suspect in 2003 has received a $4.5 million settlement from the state and its insurance carrier.